Serves 6 to 8
Time: 1 hour
I’m dedicating this month to comfort food recipes to help get you (and me) through the winter. Try as I might to traipse around in a hoodie all year round, I have to come to terms with the reality: winter is here. And that means lots of time warming up indoors. Maybe someday I’ll have a fireplace, but for now the heat of the stove gets me through.
So let’s kick things off with a comfort classic! You can think of it as a play on vegan chicken and dumplings or just take it for what it is — a soul-satisfying, thick and hearty stew with chunky potatoes and carrot, creamy white beans, all laced through and through with dilly yumminess. The dumplings soak up all that goodness on the outside, while staying deliciously doughy in the center.
The funnest part is spooning in the squashy squishy dumpling dough only to reveal beautifully firm and plump dumplings when you lift the lid minutes later. Makes you feel like a kitchen god. Or maybe that’s the cabin fever setting in.
Recipe Notes:
~If your baby carrots are the plump kind, then slice them in half on a diagonal. If they’re thin, don’t bother. And if you’d like to use adult-sized carrots, peel and slice them in 1/4 inch diagonal pieces.
~I use a Le Creuset Dutch oven for this. You don’t need to use cast iron, but the wider the pot the better, because you need lots of surface area to make the roux and cook the biscuits later. If you don’t have a wide pot, then using a large, deep pan will work, too.
For the stew:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 medium sized sweet onion (like Vidalia or Walla Walla), quartered and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups vegetable broth, at room temperature
2 stalks celery, tops removed, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 pounds potato, in 3/4 inch chunks (peel if they’re russets)
1 cup baby carrots (see note)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
Fresh black pepper
1 15 oz can navy beans, rinsed and drained (about 1 1/2 cups)
For the dumplings:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoons dried rosemary, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or soy)
2 tablespoons olive oil
First we’re going to make a roux, but it has a little less fat than a traditional roux, which means it doesn’t get as goopy. If you’d like a more traditional roux, just add extra oil.
Preheat a large, heavy bottom pot over medium-low heat.
Add the oil and sprinkle in the flour. Use a wooden spatula to toss the flour in the oil, and stir pretty consistently for 3 to 4 minutes, until the flour is clumpy and toasty.
Add the onion and salt, and toss to coat the onions completely in the flour mixture. As the onions release moisture, they will coat more and more. Cook this way for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add garlic and stir for 30 more seconds or so.
Stream in the vegetable broth, whisking constantly to prevent clumping. Add the celery, potatoes, carrot, dill, thyme, paprika and black pepper, then turn the heat up and cover to bring to a boil. Keep a close eye and stir often, so that it doesn’t clump or boil over.
Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and let cook uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the stew is nicely thickened and the potatoes and carrots are tender.
In the meantime, prepare the dumplings.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the rosemary. Make a well in the center and add the milk and olive oil. Use a wooden spoon to mix together until a wet dough forms.
When the stew is ready, mix in the beans and plop dough right on top of the stew in spoonfuls. You should get about 14 dumplings. Cover the pot tightly and cook for about 14 more minutes. The dumplings should be nice and firm. Use your ladle to dunk them into the stew to coat.
Ladle stew into bowls, topped with dumplings. And serve!
even though i had a can of white beans the contents were questionable (one gross/rotten looking bean didn’t make me want to risk using the rest of them) – but i opened the can only a few minutes before i had to add them so at this point i didn’t have time to substitute anything. the stew is still delicious without the beans though! i added extra dill and it gave the broth such a wonderful flavour.
this was soooooooo good! even my carnivore hubby loved it. I was out of navy beans, so I used garbanzos and they were excellent. but i am making this over again with the navy beans! thank you for all your incredible recipes!
I made this last night and it was incredible!!! Thank you Isa for sharing this awesome recipe!
This stew is absolutely delicious! I loved it and so did everyone I know!
Making this right now. Perfect timing too. It’s been snowing since last night. Best weather for dumplings. I was excited to finally get to use the rosemary I grew!
This is the most delicious soup I’ve ever made! I made a couple of substitutions: sweet potatoes instead of carrots, added tofu, and subtracted 2 oz of broth to add 2 oz of light coconut milk. YUM. Thanks!
Had to make this as soon as I saw the picture and DAYUMMM it is good!!! Just finished the full pan between 2 of us :>
Just made this tonight and the stew tasted delicious but I didn’t do such a good job with the dumplings! I wonder if I mis-measured. I used soy milk instead of almond milk, and the dough was very dry so I had to add a bit more. Maybe I cooked them too long(?). Do you have any other tips for light and fluffy dumplings? The recipe was so good, I think it’s worth another try, but I’ll try to do a better job on the dumplings next time…
I made this tonight, too. Absolutely delicious! I had to add another 2-3 oz of almond milk to get the dough to come together for the dumplings, but they were perfect. Thank you!
Just made this…it is so yummy! Added some fresh spinach that needed to be used and topped with chipotle flavor mrs dash! Delightful!!!!
Made this tonight – wow, it was delicous! Warm comfort food plus exciting herbs.
Would whole wheat pastry flour work instead in both spots?
Great recipe. I substituted garbanzo bean flour in the roux, whole wheat pastry flour in the dumplings and 1/2 lb each roasted brussels sprouts and rutabaga for 1 lb of potatoes. My family of meat eaters loved it!
We made this Sunday night. Ah. Ma. Zing. We love it and have been eating the leftovers every day since. Thank you so much for posting. My husband and I love everything we make of yours!
This stuff was awesome! I made it with white wheat flour since that was all I had and it worked out great! Thanks Isa!
I made a different stew w/ dumpling restaurant last week and was confused by the texture of the dumplings. I have never had dumplings before so I don’t know what texture they should have. Some of mine were gummy some were dry. I’m eager to try this recipe because all of your recipes are far superior to other cookbook authors but I’d like to get it right this time 🙂 Thanks for your help.
Holy Crap. Made this for dinner tonight. SO GOOD!
This was delicious! I followed the recipe, except I used water instead of milk for the dumplings and ended up having to use about 1 full cup in order to mix it properly. Totally easy, awesome comfort food for a cold night!
This was fantastic! I was a little lazy and used instant potato dumpling mix instead of making the dumplings myself. I also replaced the potatoes with leeks and spiced it up a little with some ginger and cayenne pepper. Outstanding!
OMG this was off the hook! We luuuuurved it!
I added some dill to the dumplings too because I love dill. Plus I made the dried rosemary from fresh just like you suggested! It was awesome! 🙂
Thanks, Isa!
Finally made this for dinner tonight, so good! I didn’t realize I was out of rosemary till I was making the dumplings, so I used dill instead. It was still delicious, and will be a staple this winter!
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
I just made this for dinner and it was even better than I expected. So flavorful and satisfying! Thank you!!
I made this on Saturday and was drooling by the time it was finished from the smell. Needless to say I wasn’t disappointed that night or today when I had it again for lunch!
Just made this for dinner and WOW! Soooo dreamy and yummy. If this isn’t soul food, I don’t know what is.
I meant comfort food …but it IS uplifting for the soul 🙂
oh my god, so tasty! we don’t care for dill, so I subbed a little more rosemary and parsley, and I threw in some parsnips and kale. this was perfect to slurp after a chilly afternoon hanging christmas lights 🙂 thanks, Isa!!
Looks great, I am going to make this tomorrow night, a bit nervous as I have never ate dumplings before let alone made them, but i’m sure it will work out lovely
I cooked this on Monday, and it was fantastic! I substituted in rice milk for almond, and it tasted great.
I snapped a couple of photos of the dish, can I send those in?
Oh my god this was so good! Everyone loved it even without meat. I did have to cook a little longer with the lid off at the end to get to my desired thickness. I used dried herbs (1t dried=1T fresh) and cows milk as i’m not vegan, but otherwise made the recipe as is. YUM!
OMG!!! This stew hit the spot for another chilly winter night! It pleased BOTH the meat-eaters and the vegetarians in my household! I will be making this stew again. Thank you Thank you for the recipe!!! And I couldn’t believe how easy it was!
We made this last night and it was absolutely perfect!!! No substitutions…except a bit of cayenne because that goes in everything here. Even my 8 year old and 11 year old loved it! I’m thinking I’ll make it for Christmas Eve. Thank you!
Amazing! We are experimenting with meatless meals and look for recipes with FLAVOR. This definately goes on my favorites list!!!
I made this tonight for my infirm omnivore family and everyone loved it! No one has been to the store since we managed to pretty much simultaneously catch cold so I subed onion for half a red pepper, no celery and used dry dill (half as much) and it was delicious. The dumplings were light and fluffy and so much more wonderful than I thought they would be! No leftovers!
Ditto the above comment – my omnivorous (leaning toward carnivorous) family could not get enough of this stew. I’d been afraid that vegan food would be bland, but I’m really glad to be putting that stereotype behind me. Thanks for making vegan food so accessible to the rest of us!
I am making this as I type it smells good tastes good, I have never had any luck with dumplings but will be following the recipe. It’s a chilly rainy day in Jersey and this seems to fill the bill. Thank You so much for all these wonderful sounding recipes, I was a vegan 15 years ago and kind of fell away and now I am wanting to go back, I enjoyed my food so much more due to sensitivities to so many foods, so I look forward to all these recipes. Thank You for being here.
5 stars from everyone! A great Christmas dinner dish. Thank you so much for the recipe!
oh yum, just made, and now devouring. so glad i found your blog!
MMMMMMM,….This dill stew with the dumplings tasted the best! It was a real hit with me & my hubby!
I love your tasty recipes a lot, even that I am not a vegan nor vegetarian! MMMMMMM,…!
Cool food blog too! 🙂
Awesome stew! Super savory and really filling! The dumplings are also fantastic (I am actually going to make some biscuits using the dumpling recipe, I love them that much!) I substituted canned beans for fresh cooked, and just had to add a bit more salt. I also added a bit more oil, made the roux a bit darker, and used small red potatoes
YUM! I used baby gold potatoes, northern beans (because we were out of navy), dried dill, and my family absolutely loved it!
nom, this was so good. I tried making the biscuits with ww pastry flour – bad idea. They were gross and dry. So I picked them out, reheated the stew, and remade with your biscuits – phenomenal!!! Making again tonight, though sans fresh dill as I have no time to run to the store.
Do you think it would be possible to use a slow-cooker for this recipe? I just got one and am dying to use it for every single recipe I come across…